FRATERNITY, INCORPORATED
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C., January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students. The Founders, Honorable A. Langston Taylor, Honorable Leonard F. Morse, and Honorable Charles I. Brown, wanted to organize a Greek letter fraternity that would truly exemplify the ideals of brotherhood, scholarship, and service.
The Founders deeply wished to create an organization that viewed itself as “a part of” the general community rather than “apart from” the general community. They believed that each potential member should be judged by his own merits, rather than his family background or affluence...without regard torace, nationality, skin tone or texture of hair. They desired for their fraternity to exist as part of an even greater brotherhood which would be devoted to the “inclusive we” rather than the “exclusive we”.
From its inception, the Founders also conceived Phi Beta Sigma as a mechanism to deliver services to the general community. Rather than gaining skills to be utilized exclusively for themselves and their immediate families, they held a deep conviction that they should return their newly acquired skills to the communities from which they had come. This deep conviction was mirrored in the Fraternity’s motto, “Culture For Service and Service For Humanity”.
Today, Phi Beta Sigma has blossomed into an international organization of leaders. No longer a single entity, members of the Fraternity have been instrumental in the establishment of the Phi Beta Sigma National Foundation, the Phi Beta Sigma Federal Credit Union and The Sigma Beta Club Foundation. Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, founded in 1920 with the assistance of Phi Beta Sigma, is the sister organization of the Fraternity.
THE BUCKS COUNTY SIGMAS
In 2018, the Philadelphia metropolitan area was large and growing with several Phi Beta Sigma alumni chapters already in existence. Even with numerous chapters in the city and the surrounding area, there were still many Sigmas who were not active and counties without Sigma chapters, soon the idea of a new chapter was introduced. What were the benefits of chartering yet another chapter? Four Sigma brothers, Stephen Lucas, Manoj Raghunandanan, Reginald M. Browne, and Keith Palmer, met in Newtown, Pennsylvania in late 2017 to answer these questions. Service to the African-American community of Bucks County and reclamation of inactive Sigma brothers were the resounding responses from the new group. Guided by passion, purpose, and principles, service would be the fuel and reclamation would be the fire of the new chapter. The four Sigma brothers began an active grassroots campaign to invite other Sigma brothers interested in embracing change with courageous leadership. Several months later, the core group of four grew to eight, and on.
September 14, 2018 Sigma Alpha Sigma Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated was chartered at Second Baptist Church in Doylestown, PA. The Charter Members of Sigma Alpha Sigma Chapter are:
